Imprints
by Karen Weasley
Summary: Fred wants Angelina Johnson, but he may just find out that not everything is as wonderful as he imagines, and true happiness may come in the strangest places.


**Written for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition: Round 2 Lyrics. Chaser 2 Kenmare Kestrals **

**Lyrics: "****But once you knew a girl and you named her Lover,**

**And danced with her in kitchens through the greenest summer.**

**But autumn came, she disappeared,**

**You can't remember where she said she was going to."**

**- Perfect Sonnet, Bright Eyes**

**Optional prompts: Clipped Wings, Shoes, Dialogue "Please tell me you're not serious. Please."**

_**Imprints**___

"Fake wands to the left, Skiving Snack Boxes to the right, and ladies your stuff's on the other side of the shop!" Fred Weasley called over the noise that filled the shop. Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes had only been open for a few weeks, but, to no one's surprise, it was thriving.

"Oi don't open that in here!" George Weasley yelled across the room at a younger boy. "That's a Portable Swamp, and I don't fancy having to clean it up do you?"

Fred laughed as the boy hurriedly replaced the box on the shelf and scuttled away from the Portable Swamps altogether. He turned to help a few students looking at joke quills and did not notice the young woman that spotted him from the door.

Angelina Johnson entered the shop not looking for a prank but for the main prankster himself. When she saw him with a group of kids by the joke quills, she hurried over behind him. "Excuse me," she said with a smile. "I'm looking for Fred Weasley, could you help me?"

Fred spun around with a huge grin. "Ang!" he cried in excitement before hugging her. "What are you doing here?!"

"I was in the area and thought I'd see how you were doing," Angelina smiled. "The shop is wonderful, Fred. You and George must be really proud."

"That we are," Fred beamed. He glanced around as he heard people calling for help at various points across the shop. "Listen, if you wanna hang around, I'll be able to talk in about an hour when we close up, ok?"

"Well aren't you the sought after man now?" Angelina teased. "Alright, I'll wait."

An hour later, Fred and George shooed the last few stragglers from the shop before putting up the closed sign and leaning against the door with a sigh of relief. "I vote we should think about reducing our hours, brother," Fred said.

"I concur," George nodded. "Too many more days like that, and I'm going to take a Skiving Snack Box just to get out of work!"

Angelina cleared her throat, and Fred's face instantly broke into a smile. "Ah George I forgot to mention our guest."

"Hey Angelina!" George smiled. "How's everything been?"

"Not so great, actually," Angelina admitted.

"What's up?" Fred asked, instantly concerned.

"Lee and I are having…problems," Angelina said carefully.

Fred's lip tightened. After the Yule Ball, he and Angelina had parted ways in favor of their friendship, but Fred had always harbored a soft spot for her. When she had told him that Lee had asked her out, and she had accepted, Fred said nothing but continued to watch in case she would ever need him. Now, it seemed, she did. "What did he do?"

"Oh you know," Angelina sighed crossing her arms. "He did the same thing so many boys do. He cheated on me…with Cho Chang no less."

Fred pulled Angelina into a hug while George sighed and shook his head. "I always knew those wandering eyes would get him into trouble," George said.

"Weren't you two living together?" Fred asked quietly.

"Yeah we were," Angelina admitted. "Which brings me to a huge favor: could I maybe stay here with you guys until I figure everything out."

George opened his mouth, but Fred leapt in front of him. "We would be more than happy to have you, Ang. You stay here as long as you want to."

Angelina smiled and hugged Fred tightly around the middle. "Thanks so much Fred! You're the best!"

As Angelina followed George up the stairs to the bedrooms, Fred couldn't seem to wipe the elated grin off his face.

With Angelina staying with them, the summer seemed to fly by. She helped with the shop when she could during the day and always helped with the clean up after closing. Fred couldn't be happier; the girl he had crushed on for so long was staying in his house and was single! The only problem was…Fred had absolutely no idea how to go about being in a relationship with someone. He had tried writing to Ginny, but she had simply told him to do what felt right. Upon reading that letter, Fred had hidden his face in his hands; that had been less than helpful. The more he thought about it, the less he knew what felt right. He had never felt nervous about anything in his life, but every time he saw Angelina his heart ended up in his throat. He had no idea what to do.

However, one day a person entered the shop that he knew would be able to help him: Hermione Granger. Everyone knew she was brilliant when it came to relationship advice, so Fred wasted no time in asking her for help.

"She's out today running some errands," Fred explained in a rush, "but I want to ask her out tonight. I'm tired of waiting. What should I say to her?"

Hermione bit her lip in thought. "Well, I would just be honest with her. Tell her how you feel about her. That would be what I would want to hear if I were her."

"But I'm rubbish at talking about my feelings," Fred whined.

"Ok then let's try this," Hermione suggested. "Pretend I'm Angelina and practice what you'll say."

Fred took a deep breath. "Ok here it goes. Ang, I really like you…have since the Yule Ball. I just never said anything because I didn't want to ruin what we had because something with you is better than nothing. It really hurt to see you with someone else, and I want to be the one that takes care of you the right way. Will you go out with me?"

Hermione stared at him with wide eyes. "Yes…" she whispered.

"'Yes' what, Hermione?" Fred asked nervously.

"Oh! Yes that was very nice, Fred," Hermione said hurriedly. "Don't change a thing…that's perfect."

"Thanks Hermione!" Fred grinned as he hugged her. "You're the best!"

But as the day wore on and Angelina still didn't come back from her outing, Fred began to get worried. At midnight, Fred was still camped out in the kitchen listening to the wireless waiting for her to come back. Finally, he heard the latch click on the door and quickly turned down the radio.

Angelina came storming into the kitchen and threw her purse down on the counter.

"You ok, Ang?" Fred asked quietly so as not to startle her.

Angelina sighed and turned to face him. "Yeah I'm fine, Fred. It's just been a stressful day."

"Why don't I believe you?" Fred asked moving closer to her. "What's wrong?"

"Lee and I broke up officially now," Angelina sighed. "That's where I went."

Fred's lip tightened as he pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry, Ang."

"Honestly, Fred…I'm not," Angelina admitted. "I mean, if he doesn't think enough of me to stay faithful then he's not worth my time."

"So you're ok then?" Fred asked hesitantly.

"Of course I am," Angelina said. "When have you ever known me to let any stupid, ignorant, cheating, scum get to me?"

Fred bit his lip but otherwise ignored her rant. Suddenly, he noticed the song on the radio had changed to one of their dances from the Yule Ball. "Come on, Ang!" he cried happily and pulled her into the middle of the kitchen. "Let's dance!"

"Oh Fred aren't we a bit old for this?" Angelina chided as Fred tried to pull her around the room.

"When have you ever known me to put an age limit on things?" Fred asked with a wink.

Angelina finally broke and slowly began to dance with Fred until the song finally ended. "Ang…" Fred began hesitantly.

"Fred…just don't talk right now," Angelina said before seizing his neck and pulling him into a kiss.

All thoughts of speeches and poems vanished from Fred's mind, and he pulled Angelina closer.

When they broke apart, Angelina smiled and picked up her purse. "See you in the morning Fred," she said before heading up the stairs to bed.

Fred grinned broadly as he followed her up the stairs.

The rest of the summer passed in a blur of happiness. Every day Fred woke up with the knowledge that he was dating Angelina Johnson: the girl of his dreams. He was so happy that he didn't even notice when September 1st rolled around and he wasn't on the train to Hogwarts.

October rolled in, and Fred and George began planning a trip to the school to look into property in Hogsmeade for a second shop. However, when Fred asked Angelina to come with them, she replied simply: "I can't. I have other plans that day, sorry."

While George enjoyed a drink with some of the owners of the shops in Hogsmeade, Fred wandered up to the grounds and sat down by the lake. He couldn't lie to himself that Angelina's behavior of late worried him slightly. She had been spending increasing amounts of time with her mail, and she had had a number of days out without explanation. One day the previous week had especially worried him.

Angelina had come downstairs in nice clothes and…_high heels_?! Angelina never wore dressy shoes like that for any reason! Even at the Yule Ball, she had worn casual flats that resembled dress shoes. Fred hadn't had the courage to ask her why she was wearing them, but it definitely worried him.

As he sat there in the sun, a shadow suddenly fell over him, and he looked over to see the same high heels he had just been thinking of. "Ang!" he cried standing to face her. "I thought you had other plans."

Angelina bit her lip and took a breath. "Well, Fred, that's why I wanted to talk to you. I…I found a new place to live. One of my co-workers offered to let me stay with them."

"One of your girls," Fred clarified. "That's fine."

"No, Fred…I'm moving in with Montague. You remember, we were in school together."

Fred's face drained of all color. "Please tell me you're not serious," he whispered. "Please."

"Oh come on Fred it's not that big of a deal," Angelina sighed.

"'Not that big of a deal'?!" Fred repeated getting angry now. "You're moving in with an ex-Slytherin creep!"

"People grow up Fred," Angelina snapped back. "At least, most people do."

Fred fumed. "Can you blame me for getting upset that my girlfriend is moving in with-"

"'Girlfriend'?" Angelina repeated with a raised eyebrow. "Who ever said we were dating? Haven't you ever heard of a rebound, Fred?"

Fred fell silent instantly.

"Look, I know it was wrong to use you that way, but I needed someone to make me feel better, and you seemed more than willing. I never meant to hurt you…I thought you knew what we were."

"I thought I did too," Fred muttered under his breath.

"Look, I have to go now, Fred," Angelina said. "Monty's waiting for me. I hope we can still be friends, yeah?"

Fred merely nodded and stared at the ground.

"Well…thanks again Fred. Bye."

For several minutes, Fred did not move. He simply stood and stared at the imprints her heels had left in the wet grass. They were all he had left now. He couldn't believe she had used him like that…and he couldn't believe that he had let her. He slumped back down on the grass, careful not to disturb the imprints from her shoes.

Night began to fall, and Fred's attention was captured by the sunset staining the horizon. It looked like the perfect painting, but his heart just wouldn't appreciate it. His eyes fell back to the imprints in the grass. Suddenly, he heard another set of foot falls coming close to where he was sitting. He didn't even look up when a pair of converse shoes stood in the imprints of Angelina's heels.

"Fred?" a female's voice called in a concerned tone.

"'Mione," Fred breathed as he recognized the tone. His eyes followed from her shoes up to her Gryffindor shirt and finally to her concerned face.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Fred shook his head and returned his gaze to the sunset. "Angelina…"

"I heard," Hermione said quietly. "George came to the game and told us what happened. I guess she said something to him as well."

Fred merely nodded.

"Why didn't you come to the game?" Hermione asked as she sat down next to him.

Fred shrugged. "I guess I never liked watching," he admitted. "I always just wanted to play and sitting on the sidelines always felt like I was a bird with clipped wings."

Hermione nodded. "I guess that makes sense."

"The sad thing is," Fred scoffed. "I feel that way anyway even without going to the game."

Hermione sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be ok Fred. I know it hurts to think someone likes you and then find out they want someone else even though you know you're a better option because the other person is just a daft bimbo with fewer brains than a fly!"

Fred looked over at Hermione in shock and saw tears leaking out of her eyes. "What did my brother do to you?" Fred asked quietly.

Hermione shook her head. "He didn't know he did it. He decided to go out with Lavender Brown because she's a pretty face."

Fred's lip tightened, and he threw an arm around her shoulders and pulled her head onto his shoulder. "It's ok, 'Mione," he comforted. "He doesn't deserve you anyway."

"Angelina doesn't deserve you either," Hermione pointed out.

Fred chuckled. "Thanks, 'Mione. It's good to know someone appreciates me."

"I could say the same thing," Hermione whispered.

Fred thought for a moment. He liked Hermione; she was smart, pretty, wise, and nice. In short, she was everything that (he realized in retrospect) Angelina wasn't. He definitely didn't want to do what Angelina had done to him, but he knew he wanted to be with someone like Hermione.

"Hey 'Mione," Fred whispered. "I was wondering…you know, we get along pretty well, and you're an awesome girl. I love being around you, and you're the kind of girl I can see myself settling down with now that I think about it more."

"Fred…" Hermione whispered back. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I'd like to go out with you," Fred said in a rush before he lost his nerve. "I promise I won't use you as a rebound, I would never do that to someone like you, but I really want to spend time with you. What do you think, 'Mione?"

Hermione beamed up at Fred. "Oh Fred…I'd love to be your girl!"

Fred grinned broadly before swooping in for a kiss. "Come on," he said when they broke apart. "I'll walk you back to Gryffindor Tower. Then we can write until I work out a time to visit you again, ok?"

Hermione nodded and stood to walk back to the school with Fred's arm around her.

Back where they had been sitting, the imprints of Angelina's high heels were long gone, and even Hermione's converse prints were gone. They had both been replaced by the imprints of two people sitting together as they realized how much they really cared for each other. But the longest lasting imprint of the day was the one the two people had left on each other's hearts.


End file.
